Hong Kong banks score a quantum 2.3/10 — somewhere between “aware” and “oh no” 🪙

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority published its first Quantum Preparedness Index on Monday, awarding the territory’s banking sector a readiness score of 2.3 out of 10, and set a target of lifting that figure to 10 by 2030. The score was disclosed in a whitepaper unveiled at the eighth FiNETech conference and is based on a survey conducted earlier this year.

The whitepaper found that 68% of surveyed banks had reached at least the awareness stage, while the remainder had not begun any quantum-related work. Roughly half had yet to formalize a post-quantum cryptography plan, only about half had held board-level discussions, and roughly one-third had started exploring or testing quantum-related technology. The index tracks four stages: awareness, planning, pilot programs and practical preparedness.

The HKMA said it would support the industry through toolkits, workshops and skills training to reach the 2030 target. It also noted that quantum machines capable of running Shor’s algorithm at scale could eventually break widely used RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography, allowing attackers to decrypt protected data or forge the digital signatures used to authorize transactions. Banks are particularly exposed to “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks flagged as an immediate threat to the financial system by the Bank for International Settlements’ Project Leap, and blockchains such as Bitcoin ($BTC) and Ethereum ($ETH) face the same long-term risk.

The index lands as Hong Kong accelerates tokenization. Government figures show Hong Kong has issued three batches of tokenized green bonds totaling about HK$16.8 billion (about $2.1 billion) since 2023, while the HKMA is advancing tokenized deposits and digital-asset settlement through Project Ensemble. In a Feb. 11, 2026, speech, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said banks in the city held more than HK$14 billion in digital assets under custody at the end of 2025, up about 180% year over year, and that tokenized deposits had reached HK$29 billion. The whitepaper said distributed ledger applications and payment networks depend on cryptography for core functions and could face severe disruption if those protections were compromised, cited one surveyed institution’s proof of concept applying post-quantum cryptography to distributed-ledger connectivity, and referenced HSBC’s 2024 use of quantum-safe technology to move tokenized gold across distributed ledgers.

The quantum initiative follows the launch of the HKMA’s Fintech 2030 strategy in 2025, which made tokenization one of four strategic pillars in a plan comprising more than 40 initiatives, and the regulator said it would regularize tokenized government bond issuance, explore tokenized Exchange Fund papers, and support blockchain settlement via e-HKD, tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins. Because replacing embedded cryptographic systems can take years, the HKMA urged banks to begin inventories, risk assessments and migration planning before large-scale quantum machines become available.